CHAPTER ONE

Contents: Wisdom's reasoning with the children of men and the certain ruin of those who turn a deaf ear to Wisdom's call.

Characters: God, Solomon, his son, Wisdom, (Christ).

Conclusion: Of all things to be known, the most important is that God is to be reverenced and served, and those know little who do not know this. All true knowledge takes rise from reverence of God and tends to it as its perfection and center.

Key Word: Wisdom, v. 2.

Strong Verses:   7, 33.

Striking Facts: v. 20. It is Christ who pleads with sinners and passes sentence on them. He calls Himself Wisdom, Luke 7:35. In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He is the center of all divine revelation the eternal Word by whom God speaks to men.

CHAPTER TWO

Contents: How wisdom is to be obtained and used. The unspeakable advantage of true wisdom.

Characters: God, Solomon, his son.

Conclusion: God has provided that those who are sincerely disposed to do His will shall have that knowledge and understanding necessary for them. His wisdom will preserve us from men of corrupt principles whose business it is to debauch lives, and from women of corrupt practices.

Key Word: Wisdom, v. 7.

Strong Verses:   6,7,21,22.

Striking Facts: v. 7. Wisdom is laid up for the righteous, in Christ, who is made unto the believer, wisdom and knowledge.

CHAPTER THREE

Contents: The power of true wisdom to make men both blessed and a blessing.

Characters: God, Solomon, his son.

Conclusion: Those who have a continual regard to God's precepts and put themselves under divine guidance by acknowledging God and praying in faith to Him, shall find health of soul, good habits of body and true success in life.

Key Word: Favor, vv. 4, 33.

Strong Verses:   5, 6, 11, 26.

Striking Facts: vv. 13-14. In all the wealth of the world is not to be found a taste of that transcendant happiness which is gained in Christ, in whom are stored the treasures of wisdom, which consist in the knowledge and love of God.

CHAPTER FOUR

Contents: Earnest exhortation to the study of true wisdom.

Characters: God, Solomon, his son.

Conclusion: True wisdom from God is the principle thing. It is that which recommends us to God, which beautifies the soul, which enables us to answer the ends of our creation, to live to some good purpose in the world and which makes our path brighter and brighter until we get to heaven at last.

Key Word: Wisdom v. 5.

Strong Verses:   18, 23.

Striking Facts: v. 18. The Christian walks in a way of light. Christ is their way and Christ is the light. They are guided by the Bible which is a light to their feet.

CHAPTER FIVE

Contents: Caution against the sin of whoredom.

Characters: God, Solomon, his son.

Conclusion: We ought industriously to avoid everything that might be an occasion of the sin of adultery or a step towards it, for it is destructive of all the seeds of virtue of the soul and those who are entangled in it have but a step between them and hell.

Key Word: Strange woman, v. 3.

Strong Verses:   21, 22.

Striking Facts: v. 21. Those who practice adultery promise themselves secrecy (Job 24:15). All the workings of the heart and all the outgoings of the life are wide open to God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. Every action will be brought into judgment when Jesus comes.

CHAPTER SIX

Contents: Caution against rash suretiship, slothfulness, forwardness, and whoredom.

Characters: God, Solomon, his son.

Conclusion: Suretiship is to be avoided, because by it poverty and ruin are often brought into families. Poverty and want will certainly come upon those who are slothful. The forward man who devises mischief will surely fall into mischief. Adultery is to be looked upon with utmost dread and detestation as a sin that impoverishes men, debauches their consciences, threatens death and brings infamy upon the reputation.

Key Word: Warnings (5:1).

Strong Verses:   6,23,32.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Contents: Warning against all approaches to the sin of adultery.

Characters: Solomon, his son.

Conclusion: The Word of God, if used for a defense and armor, will keep one from the strange woman and the destroying sin of adultery. Let the Word therefore discover to us the fallacies of this sin and suggest to us the answers to all its flatteries.

Key Word: Strange woman, v. 5.

Strong Verses: 2 .

CHAPTER EIGHT

Contents: Praise of divine wisdom. Christ, the Wisdom of God, speaks to men.

Characters: God, Wisdom (Christ).

Conclusion: Right knowledge of the divine will concerning us is to be preferred above all the wealth of this world, for it brings favor with God, and eternal life.

Key Word: Wisdom, v. 1.

Strong Verses:   35, 36.

Striking Facts: v. 22. Wisdom here is certainly more than the personification of an attribute of God, or the will of God, but is a distinct representation of Christ. John 1:1-3; Col. 1:17.

CHAPTER NINE

Contents: Wisdom (Chrst) and sin, as rivals for the soul of man.

Characters: God, Wisdom.

Conclusion: Christ and sin are both seeking to have the uppermost place in the soul of man. We are therefore concerned to put a value upon our own souls and to sit down at the rich feast provided at Wisdom's table. There is no true wisdom but in the way of Christ and there is no true life but in the end of His way.

Key Word: Wisdom.

Strong Verses:   10.

Striking Facts: vv. 1-5. Heaven is the place where Wisdom (Christ) has prepared many mansions. Christ Himself is the sacrifice which has been killed and it is His flesh that is meat indeed. His disciples have gone forth with the invitation to the Gospel feast, even the simple being freely invited.

CHAPTER TEN

Contents: The blessedness of the ways of righteousness and the folly of the ways of wickedness.

Characters: God Solomon.

Conclusion: The head of the just man will be crowned with the blessings both of God and man, and they shall leave behind them blessed memories. The wicked man's ways will turn out to be his shame and when his body is in the grave, his name will be spoken only with contempt.

Key Word: Wickedness and righteousness, v. 2.

Strong Verses:   7, 9, 19, 22, 28.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Contents: Proverbs contrasting good and evil.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: The ways of righteousness are plain and safe and in them we may enjoy a holy security. The ways of wickedness are dangerous and those who indulge themselves in sin are fitting themselves for destruction.

Key Word: Righteousness and wickedness, v. 5.

Strong Verses:   24, 25, 30.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Contents: Proverbs contrasting good and evil.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: In the life of the righteous, there is all true comfort and satisfaction and at the end of life there is eternal joy. The man who devises wickedness is under condemnation and all his triumphing on earth is but for a moment.

Key Word: Goodness and wickedness, v. 2.

Strong Verses:   21 28.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Contents: Proverbs contrasting good and evil.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: The destruction of sinners is unavoidable, for God's wrath pursues them, and whom God pursues is sure to be overtaken. The happiness of the saints is indefeatable, for God has promised that they shall be abundantly recompensed for all the good they have done and the ill they have suffered.

Key Word: Righteousness and wickedness, v. 5.

Strong Verses:   7, 13.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Contents: Proverbs contrasting good and evil.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: The house of the wicked, though built ever so strong and high, shall be brought to disgrace and at length made extinct. The tabernacle of the upright, though moveable and despicable shall, at all events have grace and comfort, and shall be eternally established.

Key Word: Righteousness and wickedness, v. 2.

Strong Verses:   11, 12, 16, 26, 27.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Contents: Proverbs contrasting good and evil.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: The course of the wicked man is an abomination to God, neither is there any offering he can make to God that can be accepted, as long as the heart is resolved to go on in sin. The upright man is regarded as the friend of God, whose prayer is God's delight, and to whom He is very near.

Key Word: Righteousness and wickedness, v. 6.

Strong Verses:   3, 8, 9, 16, 33.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Contents: Proverbs contrasting good and evil.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: The safest way in which to travel is the way of the upright, a way which God makes plain to those who desire to walk in it. We should take heed of deceiving ourselves by resting in that which seems right, but is not really so.

Key Word: Righteousness and wickedness.

Strong Verses:   3, 7, 8, 18, 25, 31, 32.

Striking Facts: v. 4. God makes no man wicked, but He made those whom He foreknew would be wicked of their own choice, because He knew how to get glory to Himself and honor upon them (Rom. 9:22) by the display of His grace in Christ Jesus.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Contents: Proverbs contrasting good and evil.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: About the most satisfactory substitute for wisdom is silence. Discretion of speech is better than fluency of speech.

Key Word: Wicked and unjust, v. 15.

Strong Verses:   3, 13.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Contents: Proverbs contrasting good and evil.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: The only zone of safety is the name of the Lord which is the strong tower in which one may find rest and be fortified against the evil one, if they will but come into it by faith in God's Word.

Key Word: Wicked and righteous, v. 5.

Strong Verses:   10, 24.

Striking Facts: v. 24. Christ is the true friend to all believers, who sticks closer than a brother. To Him therefore let us show ourselves friends.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Contents: Proverbs contrasting good and evil.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: If we keep God's Word, God's Word will keep us from all things that are really hurtful. Those who despise the ways of His Word are on the high road to ruin.

Key Word: Goodness and wickedness, vv. 16, 28.

Strong Verses:   16, 17, 23.

Striking Facts: v. 17. What is given to the poor out of love for Christ, God places to our account as lent to Him. Jesus said "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

CHAPTER TWENTY

Contents: Warnings and instructions regarding the ways of folly.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: Here in this imperfect state, 'no person can claim to be sinless, but the just man, walking by the rule of God's Word may have the comfort of a good conscience, and his children will fare the better for his sake.

Key Word: Counsel, v 5.

Strong Verses :  1, 7, 9, 22.

Striking Facts: v. 9. This is a challenge to any man in the world to prove himself sinless. Only saints in heaven, who "have seen Him as He is" and been made like Him, can say it. Though the believer, through the work of the Spirit, is pure from the sins of many others, yet each one still has sins that easily beset him sins of omission and sins of commission which they have to continually confess in order to maintain unbroken fellowship with Christ.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Contents: Warnings and instructions.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: Those who follow after righteousness, shall find righteousness, honor and life.

Key Word: Counsel (20:5).

Strong Verses:   3, 13, 21, 30.

Striking Facts: v. 3. The sacrifice which typified the great sacrifice of Christ, was a divine institution. Religious ceremonies based upon Christ's sacrifice are pleasing to God when offered in faith and repentance, but when not backed by true devotion, are an abomination.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Contents: Warnings and instructions.

Characters: God, Solomon.

Conclusion: Those who walk humbly with God in obedience to the commands of His Word and in submission to the disposals of His providence, shall find true riches, honor, comfort and long life in this world, and eternal life at last.

Key Word: Counsel (20:5).

Strong Verses:   1, 4.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Contents: Warnings and instructions.

Characters: God, Solomon, his son.

Conclusion: The indulgence of the appetites is a sin that easily besets us. We should apprehend ourselves to be in danger when in the presence of luxury, gluttony and sensuality, and should restrain ourselves from such gratifications, lest our hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and that day come upon us unawares.

Key Word: Instruction, v. 12.

Strong Verses:   17, 23.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Contents: Warnings and instructions.

Characters: God, Solomon, his son.

Conclusion: If wicked people prosper, we should not be inclined to do as they do, nor complain of what God does in His providence. They have no real happiness of heart, their prosperity is only for the present and there is no good for them in the world to come. Let us therefore honor and reverence God and be dutiful to the government God has set over us.

Key Word: Counsel, v. 6.

Strong Verses:   16, 19, 20, 24.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Contents: Warnings and instructions.

Characters: God, Solomon, Hezekiah.

Conclusion: (Principal lesson, vv. 21, 22.) The way to turn an enemy into a friend is to act friendly towards him. If it does not gain him it will aggravate his sin and punishment, and will heap the coals of God's wrath upon his head.

Key Word: Proverbs, v. 1.

Strong Verses :  21, 22.

Striking Facts: v. 1. Herein Christ is greater than Solomon for John 21:25 tells us that if we had on record all the good things that Christ said the world could not contain the books.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Contents: Warnings and instructions.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: (Principal lesson, vv. 20-25.) God gives us two ears and two eyes, but only one tongue. We should therefore see and hear more than we speak, for we cannot recover our words.

Key Word: Proverbs, v. 1 (25:1).

Strong Verses:   12, 20, 27.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Contents: Warnings and instructions.

Characters: Solomon, his son.

Conclusion: (Principal lesson.) Use the present time with diligence and wisdom and presume not upon tomorrow. We should speak of the morrow as those who are submitted to the will of God, knowing the uncertainty of one moment, except as God allows it to us.

Key Word: Proverbs (25:1).

Strong Verses:   1, 6.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Contents: Warnings and instructions.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: True religion is true wisdom, making men wise in every relation. Those who make conscience of God's law will find a security in the worst of times and will always be found vigorously opposing sin.

Key Word: Proverbs (25:1).

Strong Verses:   4, 6, 9, 13, 26.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Contents: Warnings and instructions.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: Those who never regard the Word of God are an easy prey to the enemy of souls. A confidence in God and His Word enables one to look with gracious contempt upon the most formidable designs of the devil, and will keep one in the way of duty, and above the fear of man.

Key Word: Righteous and wicked, v. 2.

Strong Verses:   1, 18, 25.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Contents: The words of Agur.

Characters: God, Agur, Ithiel, Ucal.

Conclusion: God's Word is sure and pure, and venturing our souls upon it, we shall find it a shield against temptations, a safe protection in the midst of greatest dangers. God will certainly reckon with any who presume to add to His Word, or advance anything in competition with it.

Key Word: Proverbs, v. 1.

Strong Verses:   5, 6.

Striking Facts: v. 4. It is God who has gathered the winds in His fists and His name is "I am that I am" (Ex. 3:14), a name to be adored, not to be understood. He has a Son, Jesus Christ, whose name was to be called "Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, Prince of Peace." By Him, God made all that was made, and by Him He controls all things.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Contents: Words of King Lemuel on the dangers of intemperance and the worth of a godly woman.

Characters: God, Lemuel, his mother.

Conclusion: A virtuous woman who has command of her own spirit, who is pious and industrious, who is firm for the principles of God's Word, is a rare prize. Such a one is of unspeakable worth, and he who has such a wife, should show to her great kindness and respect, and to God, thankfulness of heart.

Key Word: Virtuous woman, v. 10.

Strong Verses:   10, 30.

Striking Facts: The scope of all the various proverbs of this book is one and the same to direct our manner of life aright and to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is "made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness."